


stay as long as you need

by lolainslackss



Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Canon Compliant, Canon-Typical Violence, M/M, Soulmate-Identifying Timers, everything is the same but they have these timers, references to canon rape/abuse and violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-07
Updated: 2018-01-07
Packaged: 2019-03-01 17:52:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,955
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13300125
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lolainslackss/pseuds/lolainslackss
Summary: The soulmate timer counts down to your soulmate's death. Apparently, Andrew's soulmate doesn't have long to live.





	stay as long as you need

**Author's Note:**

> The timer shows a countdown to the death of your soulmate. Its format is 000:00:000:00 (years : months : days : hours).
> 
> the beginning of this takes place pre-canon ,, it then runs alongside canon (it'll make sense. I hope).
> 
> Warnings for canonical events of rape/abuse and violence (this isn't graphic/explicit).

**monday, november 4th 1996 - 10 years / 4 months / 6 days / 7 hours until death**

 

It was Andrew Minyard's tenth birthday and he was sitting on a park bench drinking cola. For some stupid reason, he was thinking about his soulmate.

His soulmate was born on Tuesday, 19 January 1988. Andrew only knew this because that's when his timer had flashed to life with its series of alerting beeps, reading the digits 019:01:019:12. That was nineteen years, one month, nineteen days, and twelve hours until his soulmate bit it. How tragic.

Of course, Andrew didn't really remember this happening. He vaguely recollected the mechanical beeping sound, sharp inside his head, as the strange clock changed. Luckily for him, his foster mother at the time had been a total sap, and had written it down. It had been included in his paperwork ever since.

Andrew hooked a finger under his collar and cast the timer a glance. The numbers 010:04:006:07 sat just above his heart. The poor sucker's time was running out awful fast.

At ten, Andrew was already realistic to know he probably wouldn't even meet his soulmate before they died. At ten, Andrew didn't care about that at all. At ten, he had bigger problems.

Whenever he looked down at the pale green digits melded into his flesh it was just another reminder that everything goes to shit in the end.

Andrew tossed his cola can into the nearest trash can and contemplated slashing some tires, contemplated what would happen if he never went home again.

There was nothing out there for him.

 

**saturday february 12, 2002 - 5 years / 0 months / 26 days / 7 hours until death**

 

Andrew was wearing a white vest and his juvie-regulated overalls and he was kissing a passably attractive boy in the janitor's closet. His fists balled in the fabric of the other boy's sweatshirt, keeping him at a safe distance.

The vest was soft. It was one of the only two he had, and it was washed at least twice a week. It was thin because of that: thin enough that the numbers shone dimly through it. The other boy risked a glance and Andrew scowled, tightening his fists.

"Five years left, huh?" The boy said, smirking. "Think you'll meet him in jail, Minyard?"

"Shut the fuck up," Andrew hissed, crushing their lips together.

 

**sunday, june 22 2004, - 2 years / 8 months / 16 days / 9 hours until death**

 

When she died, her timer vanished. As he was trapped in the passenger seat, his breathing ragged, Andrew saw the pale green light fade as it happened. It still had years left on it, way more than was left on his own stupid timer. He didn't bother sparing a thought for whoever was his mother's soulmate. It didn't matter. People like her didn't really deserve one.

 

**friday, april 7th 2006 - 0 years / 11 months / 3 days / 4 hours until death**

 

Millport was a shithole, and a plane ride away, but Wymack was going there to reel in one of Kevin's new recruits, which meant Kevin was going with him, which meant Andrew had to go too. _Promises, promises_.

Kevin was sitting on the entertainment centre shuffling papers, but Andrew was more concerned about what was going on outside. He watched Wymack chatting to Neil Josten and decided maybe this visit would be worthwhile after all. It had been assumed Josten would have fucking jumped for joy at this offer - after all, _nobody_ recruited from shitty Millport.

And yet, he looked anything but joyful. Andrew narrowed his eyes. The newbie looked spooked, twitchy, _guarded_.

Then, he bolted.

Andrew reached for the nearest racquet.

As the newbie inspected himself for broken bones, Andrew got bored again. It wasn't until Josten noticed Kevin's presence that Andrew's interest was piqued again. His face paled, draining of colour. It made that horrendous dye job look even more horrendous. As he scrambled for excuses not to play, flitting between states of fear and relief, Andrew observed, and then came to one conclusion:

 _He might be a problem_.

 

**saturday, june 15 2006 - 0 years / 8 months / 23 days / 6 hours until death**

 

Andrew waited for Wymack's call to inform him Neil was back on campus.

They'd been through this with a few Foxes now, but this had been well, _interesting_. Neil had paid someone to knock him cold to avoid talking. He'd also climbed out of a fucking window to make his own stupid way back to Palmetto. Andrew was going to figure it out eventually, but blue-eyes was certainly hell-bent on making it one challenging puzzle.

Neil Josten was made of secrets and lies and Andrew didn't trust him.

Andrew smoked a cigarette while he waited, every now and then casting a glance out of the window. A flake of ash tumbled to his chest, lying on his timer.

000:08:023:06, it read, only months and days and hours left at this point. Andrew had stopped giving it a second thought years ago. As usual, he had a lot to concentrate on. _Whoever they are, they'll be gone soon_. _Concentrate on Kevin. Concentrate on Aaron, Nicky. Pretend to care about this idiotic sport while you can_. _Forget_.

Wymack called, and Andrew let him shout down the phone for a minute or two before immediately getting up and making his way over there.

Blue eyes. German now, as well as French. (Looks good in all-black). _Who are you? Why are you here?_

Andrew listened to what Neil offered him and weighed the words carefully. Dead parents and Moriyamas and going on the run. Not impossible. Then, Exy, a reason to survive, a reason to die. _Is everyone I know a fucking Exy junkie?_

Andrew decided.

It was enough for now.

 

**saturday, august 26 2006 - 0 years / 6 months / 12 days / 3 hours until death**

 

"Do you think Allison's timer just reached zero?" Neil asked. It sounded like it could be a joke but it wasn't.

It had been a long day. The talk show, Riko. Then there had been Neil and his quick mouth. _And what about that, huh?_ He smashed his fist into a window. Neil hadn't puzzled it out , so Andrew had to spell it out for him as usual. _You can't run, little rabbit_. _Stay instead_.

The talk show, Riko, his fist colliding with glass, Neil, a deal, Columbia, Eden's. Seth. Now Neil again, more spelling it out. A long day indeed.

" _You aren't going anywhere. You're staying here,_ " He told him as he pressed a key into his hand.

Andrew offered him the key like it was a weapon. Neil took it like it was a kiss.

 

**sunday, november 12 2006 - 0 years / 3 months / 26 days / 9 hours until death**

 

Andrew was stuck in an Exy store with the biggest Exy nerds on the planet and he just wanted to get out. The quicker they got shit done today, the quicker they could be away from Nicky's horrorshow of a family. Things were being further complicated in that one of those aforementioned Exy nerds was becoming increasingly impossible to ignore.

They had been slowly peeling back the layers, discovering more about each other, and Neil was beginning to think he could _see_ Andrew.

No.

The drugs made everything foggy. Andrew was rambling, revealing. _Dangerous_.

Andrew slammed his hand over Neil's mouth to stop him from replying and then he left, reminding himself of the side effects of medication.

...

The rest of that day was just mess and blood. Thoughts pinballed around his head: _Aaron, blood, Aaron_. It smelled like whiskey. He swallowed the hurt. _Is Aaron okay_? He was laughing. It echoed all around his own head.

Everything went to shit.

 

**tuesday, january 2 2007 - 0 years / 2 months / 8 days / 12 hours until death**

 

The timer had a use in the end. When the withdrawal hit, when the days started to meld together, an endless stream of concrete ceilings, vomit, and pain, the timer told him how long had really passed. It grounded him, connected him to reality.

When it read 000:02:008:012 they let him out.

The clouds had gone, and the outside world was bright. Kevin looked hurt, but Neil looked worse. _Hmm_. Andrew turned the music up to think.

He got the bulk of the information from Nicky but he also needed to speak to Neil.

Neil. Auburn curls. Blue eyes. German, and French. Bandaged-up. Desperate to live, but he's got a death-wish.

Andrew hadn't thought about his soulmate in years. There'd been too much to do, and he wasn't built for a soulmate, and they'd be in a grave soon. And yet-

" _If it means losing you, then no._ "

For one stupid second Andrew wondered, _Is it you?_

But No. _No_. Neil was a bad idea, a warning sign, a pipe dream, a nothing, a side effect.

And in any case, Neil hadn't been born in January 1988.

The numbers didn't add up.

 

**thursday, january 4 2007 - 0 years / 2 months / 6 days / 4 hours until death**

 

As Andrew let his hands travel across Neil's scarred skin, taking in every pale white ridge, every old and glistening red mark, every new wound from Riko, he briefly looked at the timer above Neil's heart. It distracted him from the raging cacophony in his head.

He thought about what kind of person Neil Josten's soulmate would be, and if they would be happy they were going to live a long life.

He wondered if Neil would ever find them.

 

**friday, january 19 2007 - 0 years / 1 month / 19 days / 9 hours until death**

 

It was January 19th, and Andrew spared an idle thought for his doomed soulmate who'd be celebrating their last birthday, wherever they were, before banishing the idea from his head altogether. There was a game that night and he supposed he should at least attempt to care about that instead.

Andrew was in the locker room, thinking about all the ways in which everyone was being a pain in the ass (yesterday Neil had toed the line _again_ , bringing up Aaron, and Cass, and the trial), when he heard it - the _popbanghiss_ of something exploding. When he turned to look, Neil was scrambling at his now blood-drenched gear, the shiny red liquid getting all over him. _What the fuck?_

Boyd got there first, grabbing Neil as the blood started creeping across the locker-room floor. Andrew told Nicky to get Wymack as he surveyed the situation. All Neil seemed to care about was his fucking ruined Exy shit, and not the fact that _someone_ had rigged a bloody explosion inside his locker. That was probably because Neil had come to the same boring conclusion Andrew had: _Riko_.

But then- Neil made his way to the bathroom and he stopped, paled, shifted. Andrew stalked after him, followed his gaze to the bathroom tiles.

There, shiny, wet: _Happy 19th Birthday, Jr._

Andrew felt himself go still, felt his entire brain fill with cold knives.

 _Fuck_.

 

**saturday, january 20 2007 - 0 years / 1 month / 18 days / 3 hours until death**

 

Andrew kissed him, because he was stupid.

He'd been telling the truth - they weren't each others' answer, and Neil really was nothing, and Andrew hated him so much he couldn't breathe sometimes. And there was no way on Earth that moronic timer had anything to do with him, because there was no way Neil was dying on Andrew's watch. So it was settled. The birthday was just a coincidence.

And so Andrew kissed him, because Neil was so worked up about a god damn key, and because Neil looked at him like he was a safe haven, and because well, he was nice to look at, Andrew supposed. And then he stopped because it was too much, _too much_ , and Neil's head wasn't in the right place for any of this.

Andrew lit and crushed and lit cigarettes until-

" _The next time one of them says you're soulless I might have to fight them_."

Coincidence, Andrew reminded himself, as he tried not to think about those depleting green numbers.

 

**saturday, february 17 2007 - 0 years / 0 months / 17 days / 15 hours until death**

 

They were each curled up in a beanbag chair. Andrew felt sleepy, and Neil was watching him doze off, and Andrew wondered how he was okay with any of this. Then, Neil brought up the subject of breaking their agreement, and all Andrew could think was 17 days, 17 days, 17 fucking days.

_Ignore it. It's worthless, it's nothing._

But-

 

**friday, march 9th 2007 - 0 years / 0 months / 0 days / 7 hours until death**

 

On the bus to Binghampton as Neil chatted away, Andrew couldn't stop himself from thinking about those final 7 hours.

 _It's not him, idiot_ , Andrew told himself. _This is stupid. When that timer runs out he'll be right here on the bus with you and you'll be going back to Palmetto and the only way he's dying on the bus is if you stab him yourself._

By this time tomorrow, Neil would be safe, and Andrew could stop thinking about the timer for the rest of his life, he decided, as they kissed.

After the game, as they waited for Neil, something felt off. There was a nasty atmosphere in the stadium, and the rest of the Foxes were growing tense.

" _Thank you_ ," Neil told him, when he finally showed up. " _You were amazing._ "

Andrew thought about that as they all turned to head back to the bus. A thank you for shutting down the goal from the Exy freak, probably, but then, Neil's face told a different story. _4 hours_ , Andrew thought involuntarily, and he immediately turned to find Neil.

Then, a bottle crashed to the ground, and Andrew noticed someone smashing their fist into Aaron's chest. Renee's knives were out almost as fast as Andrew's own were, but then there was someone at his back, tall and wide and annoying, and Andrew hoped everyone else could defend themselves for an extra minute or two, just until he took care of whatever asshole had decided to cross him.

After, he grabbed Aaron's arm with one hand and curled his fingers into Kevin's sweatshirt with the other. He pulled them along with him so fast they had to start running. Nicky stayed close, running alongside them, but- _where was Neil?_

He'd been near the back, as he was the last one out, and then- _what?_ Andrew wildly looked behind him, but all he could see was violence.

Andrew's grip slackened as he saw the bus.

"Stay with Wymack," Andrew spat, as he turned on his heel to run back into the fray.

Renee was in front of him in a second.

"Move," He bit out.

"Bus," She countered, her breathing ragged.

"Neil," He managed, shaking his head. She held his stare.

"He'll be here in a second," She assured him.

Andrew looked behind her to where the riot raged on. He thought, _Neil can defend himself_. He thought, _Your deal is done, it's his own fault_.

But then his eyes betrayed him and he looked at the timer. Renee followed his gaze and then she sucked in a pained breath.

He thought, _my soulmate is about to die and Neil is missing_ , and Renee didn't even stop him when he pushed past her. Boyd and Wymack, on the other hand, grabbed him and shoved him straight onto the bus.

"Neil is-" He started.

"The campus police are breaking it up as we speak," Wymack told him. "We'll find him."

"You don't understand-" Andrew started through gritted teeth.

"He just got separated from the group," Wymack insisted. "If he's not back on the bus in a few minutes he'll have been hoovered up by doctors or paramedics."

Andrew contemplated slashing some throats, contemplated throwing his fists at the nearest bus window. He felt something hideous and alien contort in his gut.

Once the riot died down enough that Wymack and Boyd stopped blocking the bus door, Andrew shoved past them and stormed into the stadium. He barely registered that Nicky and Kevin followed him. The need to dismantle the whole place overwhelmed him.

As Andrew searched the stadium, an hour slipped away.

As he tore through Neil's abandoned things, desperately scrolled through Neil's text messages, choked an explanation out of Kevin, another hour disappeared.

And as he sat, alone and chain-smoking, calling all the local hospitals and youth centres, his timer changed to 000:00:000:01 and it was terrifying. Andrew was angry at how terrifying it was.

Because Neil wasn't at the stadium, and he wasn't in a hospital. Neil had been taken, and Andrew couldn't do a thing about it.

Finally, the timer reached zero, and Andrew was swallowed by darkness.

He stared down at the 000:00:000:00 that was still shining softly right above his heart, and cursed himself that he'd actually had some of the answers all along.

His grief was a sudden, jagged thing, emptying him of light. He sat there, in the silence, letting it envelope him, drown him.

Then, a high-pitched mechanical beeping shattered the silence.

Andrew inhaled sharply and looked down at the timer. He narrowed his eyes.

EVA:LU:ATI:NG, it read, in pale green letters.

Andrew watched as the digits shifted with a flash and a beep.

Then, it settled.

Andrew looked at the new number that glared up at him, and blinked.

He stood up, bolted to the door, and flung it open. Wymack was already there, a phone to his ear, his eyes wild with concern.

"Get your things," Wymack told him. "We gotta get the fuck to Baltimore."

**Author's Note:**

> resources:
> 
> this soulmate au premise is from [this list](http://silentpeaches.tumblr.com/post/125291322610/soulmate-au-story-ideas) of story ideas: Your soulmate clock is actually a countdown of how long your soulmate has left to live
> 
> I referred to the AMAZING [tfc timeline](http://coldsaturn.tumblr.com/tagged/tfc-timeline) a LOT while writing this. the pre-canon stuff might be inaccurate but I tried. 
> 
> (story title from 'scene one - james dean and audrey hepburn' by sleeping with sirens)
> 
> and WOW this was a bit of a headache to write. but I hope it makes sense, and I hope you enjoy!


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